The Metal Potential of Carbonate Rocks in Ancient Reef Systems of Northeastern Asia

Abstract

Carbonate organogenic buildups (reefs) are lithofacies barriers of marine basins separating sedimentation facies zones. Together with seafloor depressions, they make up two-facies systems that are favorable for the formation of stratiform lead, zinc, and copper deposits. Organogenic reefs are formed at the boundary between the littoral zone and the remaining shelf area, as well as on terraces separating the shelf and continental slope zones. The reefs control the stratiform copper mineralization in the first case and the MV-type lead–zinc mineralization in the second case. This work describes the following reef systems of northeastern Asia incorporating base metal deposits: Chencha (Late Riphean) system of the Zhuya–Patom Trough, West Yakutian (Early–Middle Cambrian), Tankhai–Ust'mil (Middle Cambrian), and Lena (Late Cambrian) systems of the Siberian Platform, and Urul'tun (Early Devonian) and Kamenka (Middle Devonian) systems of the Omulev and Kolyma blocks. The two-facies genetic model of the MV-type lead–zinc and stratiform copper deposits is substantiated.